IAN Evatt says his team is ready to chase promotion the ‘hard way’ if they fail to win over those writing off their chances of Championship football in the short-term.

The Bolton boss and his squad have come under fire from sections of the fanbase during a rocky start to the season, which has included heavy defeats against Huddersfield Town and Stockport County.

He feels, however, that recent reaction has been largely out of synch with Wanderers’ form, and that it has, on occasion, gone beyond the boundaries of acceptable criticism.

Evatt is determined to shield his players from the brunt of the negativity as he tries to coax out their best performances which, he admits, have not yet fully materialised this season.

But he also knows his battle with the ‘boo-boys’ is one he is unlikely to settle until such time as Bolton climb out of League One, where they have resided since getting promotion under Evatt in 2021.

“It is part of the game, and this is always a subjective industry, people will always have opinions,” the manager said, before last night's 3-1 win against Mansfield Town. “Those opinions are fine, it is just when it boils over to the personal stuff, it is grossly unfair. I don’t think myself, my staff or the players deserve that.

“We can be critiqued for my team selection, the tactics, the way we play, players’ performances, all those things, but when it goes the other way I just don’t think it’s right. Just because we are in the public eye does not mean that we deserve to be treated that way.

“We deserve critique, opinions should be voiced, but we can’t allow it to go too far because that is not going to help anybody, certainly not the players produce confident performances.

“This is a high-pressure industry and a high-pressure role, I am really fortunate that so far, even though we have had highs and lows, it has been pretty good. We have been on an upward curve, no-one can argue with that, facts don’t lie.

“I am made of tough stuff. I can cope with it, and I can take it all on. I am happy to have all the blame laid at my door, I have no issues with that, provided the players get to focus on what they do because they are the most important ones for us to get results.

“They need to be confident, backed and supported, and we need to keep striving to get better. That is my role to try and do that.”

High expectations at Wanderers are tied in with the fact this is just the 15th season spent outside the top two divisions in the club’s entire history, and emotions heightened by the disappointment experienced at Wembley in the play-off final just six months ago.

Evatt has also received significant financial backing to build a squad with designs on promotion and he is confident they can handle the strain.

“Since Wembley we have been under huge amounts of pressure – but you can also look at the last 11 games under huge amounts of pressure, and a really poor four games, and say we have taken 23 points,” he added.

“We have done that under huge pressure, so I think we can continue to keep doing it. But as I have said I would prefer it if we had the majority’s help and support.

“We know we are never going to please everyone. I know I am never going to keep everyone happy.

“We just need to be motivated by the people who write us off and hopefully come the end of the season we can prove those people wrong who have doubted us all along.”